Rob Ford bores everybody with his campaign ad disguised as a radio show

Rob and Doug Ford’s radio program is painfully dull (Image: Christopher Drost)

At the outset of Rob Ford and brother Doug’s maiden voyage as hosts of CFRB 1010’s The City, Councillor Doug issued a warning to listeners: “Fasten your seatbelt, because we’re going for a ride.” We figured that ride would be loud, brash and, at the very least, entertaining, given we were dealing with the Brothers Ford—Rob even warned listeners that he wasn’t responsible for the crazy things Doug might do on air. Disappointingly, though, the show didn’t end up being any of those things. It felt more like a thinly veiled, two-hour-long ad campaign—and a boring one at that.

Case in point: here’s the mayor at the beginning of the program, listing the Ford family members’ birthdays:

Rob Ford: My name’s Rob Ford.I’m the mayor of Toronto. I was born May 28, 1969. I’m married to my lovely wife Renata for 12 years. And I have a lovely daughter, Stephanie, who’s six, and my son Douglas, who’s four. And, um, that’s pretty well it…my family life.I’m the baby of four kids. Doug’s born in ’64, and Randy’s born in ’62, and Kathy’s born in 1960. So that’s a little bit about myself. When’s your birthday, Doug?

Doug Ford: November 20, 1964.

And then there’s the mayor listing off upcoming events:

Rob: So let me tell you what’s on the agenda. A few events, if you want to take part. On Tuesday, Tuesday February 28, Mirvish Productions at Princess of Wales Theatre, is the premiere of War Horse. If you love theatre, this is going to be a fantastic production. Phone number there is 872-1212, 416-872-1212.Greenbelt Day. The friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, inviting Torontonians to come and eat their lunch at Nathan Phillips Square. If you have any questions, it’s 416-960-0001, 416-960-0001….

And it went on like this. Seriously. The Fords took calls from (mostly) supportive voters, and repeated (and repeated, and repeated) their commitment to building subways.There were softball conversations with TTC head honcho Gary WebsterAndy Byford, loyal Ford soldierGiorgio Mammoliti (even Hot Wheels couldn’t spice things up) and, yes, former Toronto Maple Leaf Wendel Clark. Still, if the Fords’ goal is simply to bolster their standing with their political base, they likely succeeded admirably. If their goal is to make quality radio, however, they failed miserably.

UPDATE: We originally reported that Doug warned listeners that he wasn’t responsible for the crazy things that Rob might say when, in fact, Rob warned listeners about the crazy things Doug might say. Torontolife.com regrets the error.

4 thoughts on “Rob Ford bores everybody with his campaign ad disguised as a radio show”

WOW!! ! dont you have to listen to the program before you write a review? Im not a Ford fan by any means but I think the program you listened to came from an alternate universe, you have so many of your facts wrong.

The important thing is that Subways are built to Scarborough. Or at least, the important thing is that people think Rob Ford will try to build Subways to Scarborough and that his political opponents – even though they have a fully funded plan to improve transit in the suburbs – are trying to screw them out of Subways in Scarborough by insisting on the dreaded streetcars that have reduced St. Clair West to a pile of flaming, irradiated rubble.

Generally Torontonians fizzle out once they realize they’ll have to pay for services, like Subways to Scarborough. So it’s win win, for conservatives – we won’t have to hike taxes, and we won’t have to pay for the Subway. To. Scarborough.

If only you ford haters were able to vote in the very competent smitherman instead…..looks like he is a trustworthy guy….just happened to be t the helm of the creation of one of the biggest frauds n recent times in Canada …we fin all have a politician who AcTUALLy wants to do what he said he would and this city of activists want him out….I don’t get it

Ford promised to improve services and cut taxes and build subways at no cost to the taxpayers.

Now activists like Gary Webster are telling him it is impossible, and activists are making him break promises by forcing him to cut services and introducing “parking levys” and “user fees” which are just new taxes. We should make activism illegal – only people who agree with the mayor should be heard at public meetings, not these activists who have never owned a business!